KAISER KIDS SUN CARE PROGRAM
OVERVIEW
The Kaiser Kids Sun Care Program was designed to increase skin cancer prevention strategies among parents of young children. The intervention relies on health care providers to educate parents and provide them with informational materials at well-child visits. In a random assignment study involving 14 offices in a large managed care organization, parents whose children received care from practitioners assigned to the intervention engaged in significantly more sun protection practices than did parents whose children received care from practitioners uninvolved with the intervention. Skin exams during the third summer of the intervention did not reveal significant differences between children on measures of tanning, freckling, or number of nevi, however.
DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM
Target population: parents of children aged 0-3
In early childhood, well-child visits are recommended at 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, and 36 months of age. These visits are focused not on treating illnesses, but instead on providing parents with “anticipatory guidance” – education on optimum child development and health.
In an attempt to increase skin cancer prevention strategies among parents of young children, the Kaiser Kids Sun Care Program was developed to supplement well-child visits with information on sun protection. Health care providers were given anticipatory guidance prompts to share with parents at each visit. They were also given packets to deliver to parents at each visit. These packets included sunscreen samples as well as age-appropriate sun protection tips. Other giveaways to parents included sun hats, brochures from the Skin Cancer Foundation, a refrigerator magnet, UV-protective sunglasses, and suggested parent-child activities to teach about the importance of sun protection.
EVALUATION(S) OF PROGRAM
Crane, L. A., Deas, A., Mokrohisky, S. T., Ehrsam, G., Jones, R. H., Dellavalle, R., Byers, T., & Morelli, J. (2006). A Randomized Intervention Study of Sun Protection Promotion in Well-Child Care. Preventative Medicine, 42, 162-170.
Evaluated population: 728 infants from 14 health care
offices of the Denver/Bolder area of
Approach: The 14 Denver/Bolder offices of Kaiser Permanente were matched into pairs and then randomly assigned to the treatment group or the control group. Study participants were assigned to the study group of their local office.
Health care providers at the seven treatment group offices were invited to attend meetings about the project. At well-child visits, these providers gave parents anticipatory guidance alerts on sun protection and distributed sun protection packets to parents. Health care providers from control group offices were also familiarized with the project. These providers gave usual care at well-child visits, which included discussing the use of sunscreen with parents.
When parents entered the study, they were interviewed on their usual sun protection practices. Parents were re-interviewed each summer for three years. During the third summer, skin examinations were offered to all children involved in the study; 38% of children took part in these examinations.
Results: During the first summer of the intervention, parents attending treatment group offices had only slightly higher average sun protection scores than parents attending control group offices. Over time, use of sun protection strategies by both groups of parents declined. This decline was sharper among parents from control group offices, and, at the third follow-up, treatment group parents were significantly more likely than control group parents to score above the midpoint on the sun protection scale.
Sunscreen use was high for both groups of parents and there were no significant differences between the groups on sunscreen practices. No differences emerged between the groups on sun avoidance or clothing use. Parents from treatment group offices were more likely to seek out shade for their children to play in than were parents from control group offices.
Skin examinations at year three revealed no significant differences between treatment and control children on mean exposed skin color, tanning, freckling, or number of moles. Researchers were disappointed that such a low proportion of children took part in skin examinations. They caution against drawing too much from the results of these examinations, as mole development can be a lengthy process.
SOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION
References:
Crane, L. A., Deas, A., Mokrohisky, S. T., Ehrsam, G., Jones, R. H., Dellavalle, R., Byers, T., & Morelli, J. (2006). A Randomized Intervention Study of Sun Protection Promotion in Well-Child Care. Preventative Medicine, 42, 162-170.
Program categorized in this guide according to the following:
Evaluated participant ages: 0-3
Evaluated participant grades: n/a
Program age ranges in the guide: Early Childhood
Program components: Clinic-Based, Provider-Based, or Miscellaneous
Measured outcomes: Physical Health
KEYWORDS: Early Childhood (0-5), Infants (0-12 months), Toddlers (12-36 months), White of Caucasian, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Clinic-based, Child Care, Life Skills Training, Urban, Suburban, Physical Health
Program information last updated 7/24/07
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© Child Trends 2003 |
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